Chapter 413: The Battle of Dingxi

Just as Li Shimin and the others were preparing to crusade against Goryeo, Guo Xiaoke, the protector of Anxi, who was far away in Xizhou, sent a letter and asked for a crusade against Yanqi.

There's a reason for this.

Yanqi was originally a subject state of the Tang Dynasty, and when the Tang Dynasty conquered Gaochang, it also assisted the Tang army in combat. After pacifying Gaochang, the Tang Dynasty set up the Anxi Protectorate in Gaochang to coordinate the affairs of the Western Regions. During this period, under the leadership of Qiao Shiwang and Guo Xiaoke, the Anxi Protectorate became stronger and stronger, and it shocked the Western Regions.

However, it was this increasingly powerful Anxi Protectorate that made the Western Regions feel threatened.

In the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, Qu Lisi, an important minister of the Western Turks, married his brother to the princess of Yanqi. With the backer of the Western Turks, Na Yanqi no longer took the Anxi Protectorate in his eyes. Zhenguan has not paid tribute to Chang'an for two consecutive years in the sixteenth and seventeenth years.

Therefore, this Guo Xiaoke went to the chapter and asked for a crusade against Yanqi.

When Li Shimin saw this letter, he couldn't help but sigh: "Xiaoke really knows my heart!" Although the situation in the court is calm now, there are many ministers who oppose my personal conquest of Goryeo, but they are just taken by the majesty of me and have not spoken. And the reason they say the most is that the Western Regions are unstable and fearful of turmoil. Now, Xiao Ke has written a book, please cut down the elderly, which is to block the mouths of these people for me! ”

Li Shimin knows Guo Xiaoke's character very well. Don't do things that you don't know you are sure about, and don't fight battles that you don't know you are sure of. Therefore, he agreed to Guo Xiaoke's recital and allowed him to ask for Yanqi. Zhao Guo Xiaoke was the head of the march on the Xizhou Road, and he rode 3,000 out of the Yinshan Road to defeat the Qi.

After the edict was issued, Li Shimin always paid close attention to the situation in the Western Regions. At this time, Wei Ting, Xiao Rui and others had already raised a large ship and were transporting boatloads of military rations to the target place.

Time passed slowly. In the blink of an eye, it has been half a month.

Li Shimin's heart began to get anxious. This anxiety is not the anxiety of waiting for Guo Xiaoke's army report, but the anxiety of the 150,000 troops gathered near Chang'an.

Li Shimin is also an expert in leading troops, and he knows that this army is gathered together, and after a long time, the sharp spirit at the beginning will slowly dissipate. This can be extremely detrimental to warfare. Moreover, the daily consumption of military rations is very huge, which has already made the officials of the household department complain a little, if they do not set off again, their morale will be lost, and this combat effectiveness will be reduced a lot.

Just when Li Shimin was worried, news came from the Western Regions.

As expected, Guo Xiaoke won a big victory.

Speaking of this great victory, three people must also be mentioned. It was with the help of these three people that this crusade against Yanqi would go so smoothly. These three people are the three brothers of the King of Yanqi, and the three brothers.

After hearing that the Tang Dynasty was going to crusade against Yanqi, the three of them came to Xizhou together, worshiped in front of Guo Xiaoke, and expressed their willingness to be the guide.

Guo Xiaoke ordered Li Po, one of the Jiebi brothers, to be the guide, and led an army of 3,000 to Yanqi City day and night to kill.

Yanqi City is surrounded by water on all sides, and the terrain is dangerous, so the king of Yanqi and the ministers thought that there was such a danger, so they did not have much defense for the Tang army.

Guo Xiaoke led the army in a hurry, rushed to the city of Yanqi at night, and ordered the soldiers to float across the water. In the early morning of the second day, the Tang army climbed to the head of Shangyan Qicheng. The unsuspecting ministers of the Yanqi king and the Yanqi army panicked and resisted piecemeal.

After some fighting, the Tang army beheaded more than 100 people, captured the Yanqi king Tuqi alive, and captured more than 7,000 people.

Guo Xiaoke left Na Li Po in Yanqi and was in charge of Yanqi political affairs, and he himself escorted the Tuqi branch back to Xizhou.

However, the war is not over yet.

On the third day after Guo Xiaoke's departure, Na Qu Lisi led his troops to Yanqi. Originally, they planned to resist the Tang army together with Yanqi, but they did not expect the Tang army to move so quickly. By the time they arrived at Yanqi City, the Tuqi branch had already been captured, and a person named Li Pozhun had been replaced to manage Yanqi state affairs.

Seeing this, Qu Lisi was furious in his heart, and on the one hand, he divided 5,000 elite cavalry to chase and kill Guo Xiaoke's 3,000 Tang army, and on the other hand, he arrested this Li Pozhun and appointed a Tutun to manage this Yanqi political affairs.

When the 5,000 cavalry chasing Guo Xiaoke chased all the way to Yinshan, they finally saw Guo Xiaoke's cavalry.

Seeing that the Western Turkic cavalry was chasing him, Guo Xiaoke was not polite, and turned around immediately, leaving some people to take care of the prisoners, and the rest of the people under his leadership all rushed towards the Western Turkic cavalry.

After some fighting, the Tang army killed nearly 1,000 Western Turkic cavalry, while its own losses were less than 50. When Guo Xiaoke heard that the Li Po was in the hands of the Western Turks, Guo Xiaoke sneered and took the soldiers back to Yanqi again.

At this time, Na Qu Lisi had not yet left, and after hearing the news of Guo Xiaoke's killing, he was shocked, and then learned that the five thousand elite horsemen he sent to chase and kill the Tang army had been folded by nearly two percent, and he couldn't help but panic in his heart, and he had no intention of fighting.

When Guo Xiaoke arrived at the foot of Yanqi City, this Qu Lisi did not choose war, but talked with him.

The two had a fierce argument, arguing endlessly over the question of King Yanqi, Guo Xiaoke asked loudly: "I sent troops to attack Yanqi, who are you to rely on!" ”

Qu Li sipped his words, his expression became slightly unnatural, and he still retorted that this Yanqi is the country of the Yanqi people, and they should set up the king, not the Tang army.

Guo Xiaoke pondered for a moment, nodded, and agreed.

In the end, this Yanqi Li Po was allowed to be the king from his father and brother Xue Po Ana, and he was still a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty.

Faced with this result, Qu Lisi had nothing to say, just smiled unnaturally and left.

Subsequently, Guo Xiaoke also returned to Xizhou. At the same time, soldiers were sent to escort the former Yanqi King Tuqizhi and others to Chang'an.

When Li Shimin heard about this, he couldn't help but let out a burst of laughter. What Guo Xiaoke did in the Western Regions did indeed greatly grow the face of the Tang Dynasty. After this battle, Li Shimin could predict that at least until he returned to Chang'an from Goryeo, the Western Regions would be calm.

And those officials in the DPRK and China who originally had dissent in their hearts have also diminished a lot of dissent after this war.

After meeting with the King of Yanqi and scolding him severely, Li Shimin ordered the King of Yanqi to be imprisoned in the post house.

After dealing with these things, the rest should be to go to Goguryeo.

At this time, it was already the beginning of April.

Li Shimin ordered Zhang Jianxian, the governor of Yingzhou, to lead his troops to test the attack and find out the reality of Goguryeo's combat strength. At the same time, Zhang Liang, the secretary of the Criminal Department, was appointed as the head of the Pyongyang Provincial March, and the governor of Luzhou, Zuo Nan, was appointed as the deputy, leading the Tang Dynasty Navy with 30,000 troops to cross the sea from Laizhou to Pyongyang. He also ordered the crown prince Zhan Shi and Zuo Wei to lead Li Ji to be the general manager of the Liaodong Provincial March, and Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia, to be the deputy, leading 80,000 troops and going straight to Liaodong. The two armies marched together.

After this series of orders was issued, Li Shimin wanted to lead the rest of the army, pass through Luoyang, go straight to Youzhou, and fight with the generals.

As a result, the large army that had originally gathered near Chang'an left Chang'an one by one and marched eastward. Although there were many orders, the whole operation was carried out in an orderly manner, and there was no confusion in the slightest.

Before leaving, whether it was Li Yu or Zhirou Wang Yan, they all looked at Zhang Yunwen with watery eyes, and Zhang Yunwen felt furious in his heart.

"Hehe, dear wives, I'm just going to war, it's not a big deal! I think that at the beginning, your husband came from the rain of arrows with a knife and a gun, a little Goguryeo, and it was difficult for me! Zhang Yunwen comforted.

Hearing Zhang Yunwen's comfort, Li Yu and the others were even more sad, their eyes were full of tears, and they wanted to cry.

Alas, I still can't get used to seeing this parting! Zhang Yunwen sighed lightly in his heart, and hurriedly comforted a few people. It took most of the day to finally coax the three of them to be less sad.

In the crisp call of "Daddy", Zhang Yunwen left home with some reluctance.

Just when Chang'an was a little chaotic because of the army's expedition, more than a dozen people who claimed to be foot merchants with road guides issued by the Songzhou Mansion entered Chang'an City through different city gates.